USA makes T20I debut

Mar 16, 2019 (2 months ago) | ANI

London, Mar 15 : United Arab Emirates (UAE) hosted the United States of America (USA) for their historic T20I debut at the ICC Academy Ground in Dubai on Friday. By doing so, USA became the 28th nation to play men's T20I.

USA's inclusion was approved by the International Cricket Council (ICC) in January 2019 and became ICC's 105th member.

USA made their ODI debut in 2004 against New Zealand at the Oval where USA faced a massive defeat from New Zealand, who won the match by 210 runs.

USA's first ever T20 international match was disturbed by rain due to which the match was reduced to 15 overs. The debutants were able to set an impressive target of 153 for the hosts.

Of course, it's the first T20 International USA is playing, so we want to win, so winning is important, but having said that, at the end of this year there's a big tournament coming up, the T20 global qualifier and regional qualifiers. So we want to see what is our best combination and best players for that version, ESPN Cricinfo quoted USA coach, Pubudu Dassanayake, as saying.

UAE is yet to bat and both will face each other for their second T20I on Saturday at the same ground.